Powered forceps



G. K. A. BROWNRIGG ETAL POWERED FORCEPS Filed Aug. 26, 1963 a m y mm W M m w J M A K M 4 I E w% QM Aug. 16, 1966 United States Patent 3,266,494 POWERED FORCEPS Gerald K. A. Brownrigg, Golden Valley, and Neil M.

Clark, St. Louis Park, Minn., assignors to Possis Machine Corporation, Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Filed Aug. 26, 1963, Ser. No. 304,545 3 Claims. (Cl. 128-321) This invention is a powered forceps the mechanism of which is contained in a pencil-like hollow cylinder from which protrude at one end one-half of a pair of elongated, center pivoted, gripping members. The inner ends of the gripping members are within the cylinder and are forced apart or brought together to selectively close or open the portion of the gripping members extending from the cylinder. The gripping action is achieved by a longitudinal mechanical movement of a pin which enters a V-shaped notch formed between the inner ends of the two gripping members. As shown iilustratively herein, this longitudinal movement is achieved by a piston secured to the pin and slidably mounted within the cylinder. Fluid under pressure moves the piston toward the gripping members. A return spring may be used 'to move the piston back away from the gripping members and a resilient member embracing the inner ends of the gripping members forces them together when the pin is removed thus opening the protruding portions of the gripping memlbers. Application of power to the unit may be controlled remotely as by a foot pedal which allows the hands of the user to be devoted entirely to use of the tool to per-form the work to be-done as no gripping pressure is required of the user.

Other and further objects of the invention are those inherent and apparent in the apparatus as described, pictured and claimed.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, this invention then comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.

The invention will be described with reference to the drawings in which corresponding numerals refer to the same parts and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the powered forceps with portions thereof broken away to illustrate internal construction and a diagrammatic representation of power and control means for the device;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the principal functional elements within the forceps in which broken lines show hidden parts and represent the location of repetitive portions of the spring;

FIGURE 3 is a vie-w identical in scope to FIGURE 2 but illustrating the mechanism in a closed position; and

"FIGURE- 4 is a view of one of the gripping members viewed at 90 degrees rotation from its position in FIG- URES 2 and 3.,

Referring to the drawings, the device may be seen in general in FIGURE 1 to have body portion in the form of a hollow cylindrical member the outer surface of which may be roughened for better grip as by the knurling suggested at 111. The right hand end of body member 10 as viewed in FIGURE 1 may be seen the gripping members 12 and 14 which are suitably placed in juxtaposition to aligned apentures in case 10 such as the one represented at 15 through which a pin 16 extends to both provide a fulcrum point and means for securing members 12 and 14 in the end of the hollow cylinder 10.

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A piston 17 has a groove 18 within which is embraced the sealing ring 19, illustrated here as an O-ring, which serves as a fluid-tight seal between the piston and the inner walls of the hollow cylinder 10. Cylinder 17 is of substantial length in order to give it stability within hollow cylinder 10. At 20 may be observed a fragment of a pin which may be either rigidly secured to or formed integrally with the piston 17 and will be explained in detail in connection with FIGURES 2 and 3.

At the lefthand end of the hollow cylinder 10 as viewed in FIGURE 1 is a suitable fitting 21 which is silversoldered or otherwise suitably secured in a rigid manner in the end of hollow cylinder 10. This fitting has threads that extend beyond the cylinder 10 in which a suitable fitting 22 may be secured in a substantially fluid-tight relationship. This member provides a nipple tube 24. The nipple tube 24 receives a flexible fluid conducting tube 25 which is shown diagrammatically extending to a control valve 26.

Control valve 26 is a commercial valve that is operated in any suitable manner as by a foot pedal 27 and is connected by any suitable conduit 28 to a source of fluid under pressure 29 in this particular instance air pressure. The valve 26 also includes a vent 30. Since all of this structure is standard commercially available equipment it is neither illustrated nor described in detail nor considered by itself inventive.

When the foot pedal 27 is depressed, line 28 is connected to line 25 through conventional valving means within valve 26 so that pressure from air pressure source 29 is conducted to the interior of hollow cylinder 10. This causes piston 17 to move to the right as viewed in FIGURE 1. When pedal 27 is released, conventional valve 26 closes off line 28 and vents line 25 via the vent 30 to the surrounding atmosphere. Thereupon the power applied to the interior of cylinder 10 is released and the interior of this cylinder is vented to the atmosphere.

Turning now to the disclosure of FIGURE 2, the gripping elements 12 and 14, pin 16, piston 17 with groove 18 and seal 19 as well as pin 20 are clearly visible. These are all contained within the hollow cylindrical body member 10 and arranged adjacent to each other as seen in FIGURE 2.

The gripping members 12 and 14 will be seen to have intermediate their lengths the semi-spherical formations 31 and 32 respectively. They serve as bearing surfaces allowing for fulcrum action of the members 12 and 14 about pin 16. The ends of gripping members 12 and 14 opposite from those portions that actually do the gripping and which are exterior of casing 10 are extend ing diametrically oppositely into the interior of cylinder 10. The surfaces of each of members 12 and 14 on both sides of pin 16 diverge or might be described as forming an obtuse angle with relation to each other whereby if the inner ends are pinched together, the exposed gripping members open up to permit placing them on either side of an object to be gripped. When the inner members are spread apart, the outer portions move together to grip.

The inner ends 34 and 35 of the members 12 and 14 respectively are even more rapidly diverging than the surfaces adjacent thereto so that they form a second obtuse angle with their adjacent surfaces respectively and leave a Wedge-like or V-shaped opening 36 between'them. Pin

.20 has a semi-spherical end 37 which is always poised adjacent to V-opening 36 so that it will enter the opening whenever piston 17 is moved to the right as viewed in FIGURE 2. Between the semi-spherical portions 31-32 of the gripping members 12 and 14 and the near end of piston 17 is a return spring 38. This spring is of sufficient length and strength as to force piston 17 back so that pin 37 is just out of engagement with the ends 34 s,2ee,494

and 35 of gripping members 12 and 14 whenever there is no pressure applied to the interior of hollow cylinder 10, as when pedal 27 has been released and line 25 is connected via valve 26 to vent 30.

Members 1214 near their ends 34-35 are notched as at 39 in FIGURE 4 and a resilient member such as an -ring 40 fits in this notch and yieldingly urges the ends 3435 toward each other. As seen in FIGURE 2, foot pedal 27 is released; the interior of cylinder has been vented to the atmosphere; and spring 38 has forced piston 17 back sufiiciently far so that end 37 of pin is free from any engagement with ends 34-35 of gripping members 1214.

FIGURE 3 illustrates the same structure seen in FIG- URE 2 but shows the condition existent when cylinder 17 has been forced to move to the right and cause the end 37 of pin 20 to engage and force apart ends 34 and 35 of gripping members 12-14,

By comparing FIGURES 3 and 4 the semi-spherical nature of portions 31 and 32 is clearly observable. Also, a semi-cylindrical formation of channels or grooves 41 are disclosed by the broken lines in that figure, each of the members 12-14 having such a groove formed therein to embrace pin 16.

It is apparent that many modifications and variations of this invention as hereinbefore set forth may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. The specific embodiments described are given by way of example only and the invention is limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

What is claimed:

1. A powered forceps comprising a hollow cylinder, a pair of gripping members having tapered ends with longitudinally diverging adjacent faces extending in both directions from a hemispherical formation near the center of each with a semi-cylindrical groove formed near the center of said gripping members and extending transversely thereof on the opposite side from said hemispherical formation, a pin filling said semi-cylindrical groove and engaging said hollow cylinder to pivot said gripping members in one end of said hollow cylinder with a portion of said gripping member protruding from said hollow cylinder; said hemispherical formations engaging adjacent surfaces of said hollow cylinder, a resilient ring embracing the inner ends of said gripping members yieldingly urging them toward each other; the ends of said gripping members embraced by said resilient ring diverging from each other to form a notch, a piston slidable in a substantially fluid-tight fit within said hollow cylinder, a member extending from said piston and centered adjacent the notch formed in the inner ends of said gripping members, said member having a rounded end thereon, a return spring interposed between said piston and said hemispherical portions, of said gripping members, a source of fluid under pressure, and means for connecting the end of said hollow cylinder remote from said gripping members to said source of fluid under pressure and releasing said fluid under pressure therefrom selectively.

2. A powered forceps comprising:

(A) a hollow cylinder (1) having aligned apertures near one end in the side walls thereof,

(B) a gripping member comprising:

(1) an elongated rigid member (a) having a fragment of a sphere formed near its center and (b) protruding from the balance thereof in in a given direction,

(c) the surface of said gripping member opposite from that from which said semispherical formation protrudes being formed of diverging planes,

(d) a semi-cylindrical groove extending transversely of the length of said member approximately centered in the opposite face of said member from said hemispherical formation,

(e) one end of said elongated member tapering to a point,

(f) the other end of said elongated member having a groove formed therein near its end and having the ends beyond said groove formed in a sharply diverging direction as to form a second obtuse angle with the adjacent portion of said elongated member,

(C) a second elongated member identical to said first elongated member,

(1) said gripping member being placed within said hollow cylindrical member with their semicylindrical formations aligned with the aligned apertures in said hollow cylinder,

(D) a pin member (1) extending through said aligned apertures in said hollow cylindrical member,

(2) engaging the semi-cylindrical grooves in said elongated members whereby said elongated members are secured in said hollow cylindrical member and fulcrumed around said pin,

(E) a piston (1) slidably positioned in said hollow cylindrical member (2) having a groove around its periphery (F) a pin (1) integrally secured to said piston and (2) extending within said hollow cylindrical member in the direction of said elongated member ends,

(3) the end of said pin being hemispherical in shape,

(4) sealing means in the groove of said piston forming a substantially fluid-tight seal between said piston and the inside of said hollow cylindrical member,

(G) a resilient means (1) within said hollow cylindrical member (2) embracing said elongated members in said groove,

(3) urging said piston away from said elongated members,

(H) an elastic member embracing the grooves in adjacent ends of said elongated members within said hollow cylindrical member,

(1) means secured to the opposite end of said hollow cylindrical member from that embracing said elongated members for connecting said hollow cylinder to a source of fluid under pressure and releasing said pressure selectively.

3. The powered forceps of claim 1 wherein said last means includes a foot control for controlling the flow of air to the hollow cylinder, and means communicating between said foot control means and said hollow cylinder for transporting air to said hollow cylinder.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 804,229 11/ 1905 Hutchinson 128354 2,435,741 2/ 1948 Fleenor l28--354 3,111,870 11/1963 Anderson 8l301 X 3,173,338 3/1965 Schultz 91369 RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

G. E. MCNEILL, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A POWERED FORCEPS COMPRISING A HOLLOW CYLINDER, A PAIR OF GRIPPING MEMBERS HAVING TAPERED ENDS WITH LONGITUDINALLY DIVERGING ADJACENT FACES EXTENDING IN BOTH DIRECTIONS FROM A HEMISPHERICAL FORMATION NEAR THE CENTER OF EACH WITH A SEM-CYLINDRICAL GROOVE FORMED NEAR THE CENTER OF SAID GRIPPING MEMBERS AND EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY THEREOF ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE FROM SAID HEMISPHERICAL FORMATION, A PIN FILLING SAID SEMI-CYLINDRICAL GROOVE AND ENGAGING SAID HOLLOW CYLINDER TO PIVOT SAID GRIPPING MEMBERS ON ONE END OF SAID HOLLOW CYLINDER WITH A PORTION OF SAID GRIPPING MEMBER PROTRUDING FROM SAID HOLLOW CYLINDER; SAID HEMISPHERICAL FORMATIONS ENGAGEING ADJACENT SURFACES OF SAID HOLLOW CYLINDER, A RESILIENT RING EMBRACING THE INNER ENDS OF SAID GRIPPING MEMBERS YIELDINGLY URGING THEM TOWARD EACH OTHER; THE ENDS OF SAID GRIPPING MEMBERS EMBRACED BY SAID RESILIENT RING DIVERGING FROM EACH OTHER TO FORM A NOTCH, A PISTON SLIDABLE IN A SUBSTANTIALLY FLUID-TIGHT FIT WITHIN SAID HOLLOW CYLINDER, A MEMBER EXTENDING FROM SAID PISTON AND CENTERED ADJACENT THE NOTCH FORMED IN THE INNER ENDS OF SAID GRIPPING MEMBERS, SAID MEMBER HAVING A ROUNDED END THEREON, A RETURN SPRING INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID PISTON AND SAID HEMISPHERICAL PORTIONS, OF SAID GRIPPING MEMBERS, A SOURCE OF FLUID UNDER PRESSURE, AND MEANS FOR CONNECTING THE END OF SAID HOLLOW CYLINDER REMOTE FROM SAID GRIPPING MEMBERS TO SAID SOURCE OF FLUID UNDER PRESSURE AND RELEASING SAID FLUID UNDER PRESSURE THEREFROM SELECTIVELY. 